President Irfaan Ali on Sunday defended the Appointments Committee of Parliament’s choice of former MP and bauxite industry official Dunstan Barrow as a nominee for directorship of the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) Board which will preside over proceeds from the oil and gas industry.
The PPP/C used its majority on the committee to approve Barrow, a former PNC MP, over objections from the opposition which then staged a walkout.
“Is the representative a PPP/C person? The parliamentary process is that the committee selects someone of standing in a country and society. That process brings out a name. It is not that the PPP supported a person that is a minister or a member of the PPP. This is a former minister of the PNC. A former member of the PNC,” Ali said when asked to respond to concerns that government appeared to have used its majority on the committee to shut out the opposition.
